*There was famine in the Land besides the first famine in Abraham�s day
Famine = Trouble, difficulty, hardship, trials ( Everyone will be tested).
It�s not will hard times come, but how will we respond to them?
We cannot control what comes our way in life, but how we respond to it will determine whether we go forward or backward.
*Growth is the product of active resistance
*If we never experienced resistance we would never grow
*We do not determine growth by what we avoid in life, but by what we overcome.
* Muscles only grow through pressure, and not just pressure, but resistance against pressure.
*Without challenges and tests it would be impossible to measure growth.
Trouble does one of two things,
It makes us more sensitive to God, and more aware of our weakness and dependence upon God.
Or It makes us dull and insensitive, and self assertive.
If famine trial and tests bring us a greater revelation of God then they have served a greater purpose than a life of ease and comfort
*The highest goal of the believer is to become increasingly and progressively better acquainted with the Lord, and to make him known.
The greatest revelation of your life is hiding in the greatest trial of your life.
Examples
*Disciples in the midst of the storm
*Paul and Silas in prison
*Mary and Martha at Lazarus tomb
*Woman with the issue of blood
Sojourn in this land: I will bless thee
Be a stranger, stay temporarily, don�t get adjusted
(Isaac sowed in that land)
He broke through
He sowed his seed in time of famine, with nothing to encourage his efforts except the promise (I will bless thee)
He had no evidence but he had confidence
And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
Gerar = lodging place, (To chew, to saw, to destroy,)
This tells us today that God can bless you anywhere, God is not limited or governed by the economy,
Isaac reaped in that same year a hundred fold:
He broke through
Many times we miss the harvest, = the blessing God has for us because we quit sowing in times of famine.
(Instead of breaking through we find ourselves backing up)
Backing up on our prayer life, backing up on reading the word, backing up on our giving, backing up on our confession.
The Word Murmur= To Back up
Many times at the point of our breakthrough we break down because instead of praising God and demonstrating our faith in his promises we begin to murmer and doubt and become discouraged and we back up.
We often wonder why God is taking so long to fulfill his word to us.
Most of the time the reason is because we take so long getting into the blessing position.
Just like the quarter back will not throw the ball until his receiver is in the intended position, neither will God release the blessing until we are in position to receive.
I have found at least 5 requirements for positioning ourselves for blessings.
(1) Go where God tells you to Go�.. Geographically, obey Gods direction,
You must be where God told you to be in order to get what he promised you.
1Ki 17:3-4
3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
God has a commanded blessing looking for you, it may have flown over your head a dozen times, but it won�t land until your in position.
(2)You must believe the time is now:
Ec 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
You must believe it�s harvest time, You must believe it is time for salvation, healing, deliverance, prosperity, miracles, etc.
You sow knowing there is a time element involved, You reap believing that time element has been fulfilled.
(3) You must give God the latitude to use whatever means he chooses to get the blessing to you.
Jesus healed by many different methods, to reject the method he was using at the time would have been to reject the healing.
�It was a dirty bird that delivered Elijah�s Food�
(4) You must do what God says to do.
Whatsoever he saith unto you do it.
Dip 7 times, borrow empty vessels not a few, make this valley full of ditches, Take away the stone, Fill the water pots with water.
Step into the raging Jordan, Walk around the walls of Jericho.
(5) Praise God as though you were experiencing the blessing now.
This Praise tells God you believe his word, and that you refuse to be hemmed in by your circumstances, You may be in Prison but your praise can reach heaven.
You may be covered up in debt or sickness or family turmoil, but your praise can break through and reach heaven.
There are Blessings that are Yours by design, �Commanded Blessings� God has divinely ordered them for you, but you are not going to get them till you are in position.
Let me close with this thought:
There are people who have a call of God on their life, and a degree of anointing but they will never walk in the full anointing and manifestation of that call because they fail to position themselves.
That is to say they will not submit themselves to a spiritual head, The anointing and power of God follows order, It flows down from the head.
As you position yourself under a Spiritual Head Then the anointing, the blessing, the favor that is on that head will flow down to you.
Is there anybody Here who wants to position yourself for blessings?
In our text tonight, God tells Isaac not to go down to Egypt but to sow in the very place where he was at even though the conditions and circumstances were contradictory to his desire.
The fact is: When we obey God we position ourselves for supernatural blessings.
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